Abstract:
The planned shutdown of the Rite Aid Distribution Center in 2011 after nearly 40 years in Rome is devastating to 388 individuals and households who will lose a reliable paycheck. There is no minimizing that fact.

Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito, D-Rome, and state Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, have both spoken of offering state-level assistance to the Rite Aid workers. That's a drill our region knows all too well from the 1990s, when plant after plant seemed to be closing. But with nanotechnology likely to become a burgeoning industry in the Mohawk Valley thanks to the initiative at SUNYIT, it might be possible to retrain the laid-off employees for opportunities there.